Running Out of Time
by QueensGambit
Summary: Sequel to Live to Rise - October and Steve find out the meaning of the journal, but what they find could change the past and present forever. Johann Schmidt is back and it's up to Steve and October to stop him. The only downside is, Steve cannot run into his past self along with his friends. They race against the clock to save the present. Will they succeed in time or fail?
1. Chapter 1

As promised, here is the sequel to Live to Rise. I have to thank my amazingly awesome friend and fellow writer, BlueBrainProductions for coming up with this wonderful idea. Hope you all enjoy and let me know what you think, even if it is the first chapter. (: Oh and since I've never been to Mexico, I'm just making a small town up. Probably won't be named but if anyone has any suggestions then let me know!

And yes, the other Avengers will be making an appearance so that is why this is in the Avengers section. (:

Disclaimer: I don't own the Avengers or Captain America, just the plot for this story and October.

~O~

* * *

Steve and October's journey across the states was a long road to follow. They traveled along Route 66 when they finished their stay in Chicago. October had her arms loosely wrapped around Steve's waist as her chin rested on his shoulder. The wind whipped through her newly cut shoulder length hair. Steve looked back at her with a smile as they passed by a sign telling them how far away they were from their destination.

"We're almost there." Steve shouted over the motorcycle's engine. October placed a kiss on the side of his neck in reply and gave his waist a little squeeze.

Their destination was a small town in New Mexico. Steve pulled over to the curb and shut off the engine. October slid off the motorcycle and stretched her arms above her head when an arm wrapped around her waist. She laughed when Steve tickled her side and causing her to slap his chest.

"I thought I told you not to do that."

"Sorry I couldn't help myself. We better see if the hotel has a room available" He smiled.

Steve grabbed their bags and took October's hand heading to the hotel in front of them. He held the door open for October as two elderly women walked by smiling at him and saying how more men need to be like him. Steve gave the women a smile before following after October. The receptionist was typing on the computer and talking on the phone as they approached the desk. She held up one finger as she finished talking and kept typing. October leaned her head against Steve's shoulder as they waited. Steve wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her into his side.

"Sorry about that. How may I help you?" the receptionist asked.

"We'd just need a room for a few days." Steve answered.

"Do you two have a reservation?" she asked typing away.

"No." October answered this time.

"Alright, no problem. Name please?"

"October Donovan." She said handing over a credit card. The receptionist took the card and collected all the paperwork.

"Okay you two are set. Here's your key and you will be in room 312." She said handing October the card.

"Thank you." Steve replied grabbing their bags.

~O~

October slid the keycard into the slot and unlocked the door. She pushed the door open and walked inside turning on the lights. The room was surprisingly nice. The queen size bed sat in the middle of the room, the headboard against the wall. The bathroom was to the right of the door with a closet across the way. Steve set the bags down and smiled as October flopped down on the bed.

"It's so soft. I could curl and go to sleep now."

"I thought you wanted to hit the library?" Steve asked sitting beside her.

"We can head there tomorrow besides sleep sounds really good right now." She yawned into her hand.

Steve ran a hand through her hair as her head rested in his lap. Her hand was sitting on his knee as she closed her eyes. The feeling of Steve's hands raking through her hair was soothing and made her sleepy. She felt herself be lifted into Steve's arms and she nestled into his chest; the warmth of his body radiating through her. Steve gently set October down in the bed. He pulled off her shoes and set them beside the bed before climbing in next to her. The covers were pulled up over them as October rolled onto her side and Steve wrapped an arm over her waist. His body fit perfectly around hers. They soon fell asleep, allowing the days travel get to them.

Sometime during the night October awoke from a nightmare. Her chest heaved as she tried to calm her breathing.

"_I'm sorry for intruding."_

"_I never thought I'd hear from you again, Charles." _

"_Something is troubling you, October. Do you want to talk about it?" _

"_It's this journal my father wanted. I've tried reading it but it's in code. I'm not exactly a code breaker…and I can't help but feel something is going to happen." _

"_I'm sure you'll figure out what is in that journal. Trust your intuition and you will succeed. I'm afraid I must go for now. Take care, October._

"_You too, Charles." _

October lay back down and curled into Steve. He mumbled in his sleep and wrapped his arm around her again and pulled her close. She pressed a kiss to his cheek before closing her eyes again.

~O~

October stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around her. She dried off and quickly got dressed. She dried her hair, straightened it and brushed her teeth. She finished with applying some eyeliner and she was set. October opened the door to find Steve sitting on the bed flipping through the journal. He looked up as she sat beside him.

"Do you have any idea how to crack that?" she asked pulling on her converse.

"I'm not sure but this symbol appears on every page. It might be a good place to start." Steve replied pointing to the hourglass and an infinity sign inside the hourglass.

"Well that journal isn't going to decode itself. Let's go."

Steve grabbed the keycard from the nightstand and pocketed it before following October out the door. They walked hand-in-hand as they left the hotel. The library was just a few blocks down from their current location. When they entered the library was silent, as it should be, but there was hardly anyone present. They exchanged a look before October shrugged and headed for a large table in the back.

"I'll go find some references to help us. Hopefully something helps us break that code, if not then I don't know what we're going to do."

"We'll figure it out, don't worry." Steve whispered leaning down for a kiss.

October smiled and kissed him back before turning on her heel and down a row of books. She grabbed a handful and made a trip back to the table. As gently as she could, October placed the books on the table and took a seat. They each pulled a book toward them and went to work. Every now and then, October would write down what each symbol could possibly mean and handed it over to Steve. He went through and unscrambled the words that he could.

"It's instructions." Steve whispered.

"For what?"

"I don't know, some form of machine I think. Hydra is mentioned a few times in here, but nothing else."

"Let me see." October walked around the table to Steve's side and leaned her hands on the table. Her eyes danced across the paper. She picked up on the name Hydra a few times as Steve said, along with time and machine.

"Wait, this should be portal not machine. But that still doesn't make sense unless…Oh my god…He actually made it."

Steve glanced at the journal and looked up at October. He scooted the chair back and pulled October down on to his knee. What did he make?"

"My father was obsessed with time. He always wished he could go back and change some things, or bring something from the past to the present. He didn't care about the damages or what changes might happen. That's what this journal is. It's the instructions and location of that portal. And from the looks of it, Hydra has something to do with it."

"But Hydra was disbanded after the Red Skull disappeared." Steve said with his brows furrowed.

"Steve, exactly how did the Red Skull disappear?"

"When he touched the Tesseract something happened. He disintegrated into the light that came from the cube."

October pondered over this for a few minutes. "What if he was absorbed into the Tesseract? And when Loki appeared he was somehow released? I remember Selvig saying that when he was under Loki's control the Tesseract spoke to him. What if it was him?"

"It's been a long time, Captain America."

* * *

~O~

If you haven't figured out who it is by now, then I have nothing to say. Ha-ha. This was a hard chapter to write. Hope you all enjoy this sequel! It's gonna be pretty interesting to write! I'll start working on chapter 2 tonight and finish it tomorrow. I might even post a few chapters tomorrow. :D Don't forget to review!


	2. Chapter 2

I promise the chapters will get better as the story progresses. I might even go back and re-do the first chapter later on. Anyways, here is chapter two of Running Out of Time. And it is from the song of the same name by Barlow Girl.

Enjoy

Disclaimer: I only own October and the time-travel idea.

~O~

* * *

Steve pushed October behind him as he stared down Johann Schmidt. October grabbed the journal and clutched it to her chest unsure of what to do.

"You are a very smart woman. I must congratulate you. If it weren't for you two I would have never found the location of the portal. Now give me the journal." Schmidt said slowly approaching them.

"October run. I'll take care of him." Steve glared.

"You don't have your suit or shield. We need to get out of here." She replied grabbing his upper arm. "Please Steve."

The tone of her voice had Steve turning around to look at her. The look in her eyes told him she had a plan, but if it would work he wasn't sure. He nodded before they took off running for the library entrance. Steve kept October in front of him as they raced through the rows of books. October yelped as one of the bookcases fell over narrowly missing her. She glanced back and saw her and Steve were separated.

"Go on, get out of here. I'll catch up."

She nodded and spun on her heel, journal still clutched to her chest. Schmidt was nowhere to be seen, but October could still feel his presence. She made a bee-line for the door only to have Schmidt jump down in front of her.

"Give me the book!" he said holding out a hand.

"Over my dead body." October replied throwing out her hand and sending Schmidt flying. She resumed running and slide across tables when a bullet whizzed past her head. Another yelp escaped her lips as she mentally threw the doors open and ran out. The streets were devoid or people and cars. She didn't have time to stop and stare. October ran down and across the street when she was scooped up into the air.

"You cannot out run me, Captain. I will get my hands on that journal!"

Steve ran into the hotel and up the stairs; the elevator was too slow. The door flew off its hinges when he kicked it. He set October down and started gathering their things and tossing them into the bag. When everything was packed October grabbed a bag and ran for the door only to stop dead in her tracks.

"I tire of this game."

"October, look out!" Steve shouted. He pulled her out of the way and crashed through the window. October had a firm grip around Steve's waist they dangled from their third floor window.

"Steve let go. The fall won't kill us." She said looking down at the bushes. "Let go now!" she shouted when she saw Schmidt in the window.

Steve looked up and did as October said. They landed in the bushes lining the hotel and jumped up. Steve's motorcycle sat waiting for them and they jumped on. He started it up and burned rubber getting out of town. October glanced behind them and sent Schmidt flying backwards once more as they disappeared from sight. She rested her head on Steve's back and sighed.

"We need to put as much distance between him and us as possible. Any idea where we should go?" Steve shouted above the roar of the engine.

"Head northwest to the Rocky Mountain National Park."

"Why there?"

"That's where the portal is. My father's father grew up in Boulder, Colorado."

"How did you find that out?"

"I just have a gut feeling…" October replied looking to the side.

~O~

The usual eight hour trip took only four at the rate Steve drove. They reached the national park and hid Steve's motorcycle under some foliage. October pulled out the journal along with her phone and started taking pictures of each page.

"What are you doing?" Steve asked peering over her shoulder.

"I'm sending some copies to Tony and the others. In case something should happen they should know where we are…and possibly build another portal." She replied sending the pictures. A few minutes later her phone rang. It was Tony.

"Hello, Tony." She answered as his face appeared on the screen.

"_What have you and the Capsicle gotten yourselves into this time?" _

"Possible time travel? Listen how fast can you build that?"

"_Depending on everything needed to complete it, I'd say two weeks."_

"Good, you have five days."

"_Whoa, now hold on …"_

"I know you can do it Tony. You are after all a genius, and the only one who can build something like that in only a few days."

"_At least someone appreciates my genius-ness."_

"I don't think that's a word, Tony…how about ingenuity? Sorry gotta go bye!" October hurriedly said hanging up.

A noise to her left had her spinning toward it. She reeled backwards from receiving a punch to the face. October lifted herself onto her knees and spit out blood. The coppery taste filled her mouth but it didn't stop her from fighting back. She swept her right leg to the side and caught the side of Schmidt's legs sending him to the ground. She rolled out of the way and on to her feet as Steve intervened and wrestled with Schmidt. October held her hand out and lifted Schmidt from the ground and held him in midair. Steve looked over at her and got to his feet.

"What are you? Release me now woman!" Schmidt exclaimed, his German accent echoing around the area.

"Steve, on the count of three run." She said holding eye contact with the German man. "One…two…three!"

October's hold on Schmidt released as he hit the ground. Steve and October raced through the trees. They halted when they came up the base of Longs Peak. October flipped open the journal looking for the entrance of the base. She quickly found it and tossed the journal to Steve as she got down on her hands and knees and felt along the ground.

"Found it." She said feeling the hidden doors latch. She pulled it open and ushered Steve inside.

The door closed behind them, engulfing them in the surrounding darkness. The room lit up the further they ventured in. Steve looked around at the computers and equipment covered in layers of dust. However, what sat in the middle of the room was the portal. Steve left October's side and walked over to the closed portal.

"How does it work?" Steve asked. When he didn't receive an answer his brows furrowed. "October?" he turned around.

"Did you really think you two would get away from me? I promise not to harm the woman, but only if you give me the journal. What do you say, Captain?"

"Let her go, Schmidt." Steve said raising his hands.

Schmidt had his arm around October's throat. He walked over to one of the computers and pressed a button. The room came to life as every single computer and machine came to life along with the portal. The portal was blue, the same color as the Tesseract. October's eyed the portal as it swirled; the arm around her throat tightening a little from their movement. She walked with Schmidt as he picked up the journal and headed toward the portal. They turned around and faced Steve.

"So long, Captain. It's been a touching reunion." Schmidt said before shoving October forward. Steve reached her before she could hit the ground and pulled her to him. They watched as Schmidt and the journal disappeared in the swirling mass of blue.

"Steve we have to go after him. That journal was never supposed to be in his hands. If he discovers any more information about the cube history will change."

"And how will we return? There has to be another way, Tober."

"There won't be any returning if he wins. We may never exist if that's the case or worse…" October trailed off. "Someone has to stop him and you've fought him before. You stand a better chance than I do and the longer we wait, the more damage he can do."

Steve was silent as he thought over her words. It was his duty to stop Schmidt back then, just as it is now. "Let's go."

October smiled and took his hand before stepping into the portal together, unsure of where they would land.

* * *

~O~

Next chapter, Steve sees himself and some old friends. Stay tuned. I swear it will get better as the story progresses. Don't forget to review!


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